The escalation of violence that broke out yesterday in the state of Sinaloa following the recapture of Ovidio Guzmán, son of “El Chapo” Guzmán, continues to disrupt air operations at the airports of Culiacán, Mazatlán, Los Mochis and Ciudad Obregón (the latter in the state of Sonora).
Dozens of flights were cancelled on Thursday after two aircraft, one belonging to the Mexican Air Force and the other to Aeromexico, were hit by bullets at Culiacan Airport.
See also: Mexico: Airport closed, flights canceled and chaos in Culiacan after Chapo Guzman’s son arrest
But the situation will extend through Friday, given that at the time of publication (5:20 local time – 11:20 GMT), the four airports are still closed, and their reopening will be evaluated later this morning.
Culiacan airport has 31 flights scheduled to arrive today. At the moment, 10 of them are cancelled: 8 Volaris flights, one Viva Aerobus flight and one Aeromexico flight. As for departures, there are also 31 scheduled, but 13 are already cancelled: 8 by Volaris, 2 by Aeromexico, 2 by Viva Aerobus and one by Calafia Airlines.
In Los Mochis, six arrivals are scheduled for this Friday, January 6, three of which have been cancelled: two by Aeromexico from Mexico City and one by Volaris from Tijuana. The same numbers are repeated for departures.
Mazatlan airport was scheduled to receive 21 commercial flights today, but so far seven have been cancelled: three from Aeromexico, two from American Airlines, and two each from Alaska Airlines and WestJet.
Finally, at the Ciudad Obregón airport (CEN) there are three flights cancelled out of the seven scheduled to arrive this Friday, two from Aeroméxico and one from Viva Aerobus. There are the same number of cancelled departures.
On Thursday night, Mexico’s Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) had reported that the airports of Culiacan, Mazatlan and Los Mochis were under federal control, with oil storage and vehicles being kept under guard while they continued to coordinate with public security authorities on the steps to be taken based on the evolution of the events.
On Friday morning, the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation informed that the Culiacan airport will remain closed and at 10:00 local time there will be a meeting to determine whether or not it will be reopened, as well as in Mazatlan. On the other hand, it was decided to resume operations in Ciudad Obregón as of 6:00 am and in Los Mochis as of 7:00 am.
The airlines’ response
Viva Aerobús recommended its passengers to check the status of their flights at https://www.vivaaerobus.com/es-mx/flight-status, while its Whatsapp contact channel is 525543578482.
TAR Aerolineas passengers affected by the cancellations can contact 4422130000 or by writing to atencionaclientes@tarmexico.com.
In the case of Aeromexico, flight status can be consulted at https://www.aeromexico.com/es-mx/estatus-de-vuelo/, while it has implemented a protection policy for those with tickets issued before January 5 to fly between that date and January 7 to, from or through Ciudad Juarez, Culiacan, Los Mochis, Mazatlan and Ciudad Obregon. More details on the policy are available at https://www.aeromexico.com/es-mx/avisos-para-pasajeros.
Finally, Volaris recommends checking the status of its flights at the affected airports at https://www.volaris.com/flightstatus?culture=es-MXdonde, and keeping an eye out for emails from the company warning of changes.
